Latine

Posted by Miri Barak on January 04, 2003

I'm translating a piece
about Gauguin, the painter, and it is said about him "I believe I learnt, during
my childhood and in that seminary, to hate hypocrisy, double dealing and sneaking
*(semper tres)*, and to distrust anything that ran contrary to my instinct, heart
and reason. Gauguin says these words about his school days in a religous school
in France.
*semper tres* it is part of a sentence: Non quam duo, semper tres
and
it means: never go in twos - always in threes.
this is a rule they had to keep
at school. I wanted to know the origin of it, what was really the reason for this
rule, to be able to understand the connection to this paragraph.
and my thanks
to everyone who tries to enlighten me.
Miri